Posted on December 06 2017
![Ways To Improve Your Cardio For MMA](http://www.fightlab.com/cdn/shop/articles/shutterstock_388258684_{width}x.jpg?v=1512534828)
MMA is a very demanding sport when it comes to cardio. Especially if you have to fight for more than three rounds. It may seem like something easy to do – after all if you feel a bit tired you can go for a clinch with your opponent, and in this way you can use these precious seconds to rest, right? Wrong. Every single aspect of MMA will create a burning sensation in your lungs as your body fights to get enough oxygen to fuel your body. So, it’s very important for you to invest a lot of time and effort into improving your cardio.
Of course, there are people with different muscle types. Genetics plays a role here. We’ll take a case study on a battle in the UFC, the world’s premiere organization when it comes to mixed martial arts. And the fight we’re talking about is that of Connor McGregor and Nate Diaz – specifically their first fight. McGregor is a much more explosive fighter that wields great power and speed – but is of weaker cardiovascular disposition. His opponent, Nate Diaz is the flip side of the coin – he has low power and speed, but is very resilient in his cardio. As the fight began, McGregor put Diaz on fire with a barrage of well timed, fast, explosive strikes. But in the second round he gassed out very quickly, and Diaz ended up taking the fight.
The moral of the story is that you have to take care of your cardio – no matter what your body type is. And many of you won’t like it, but one of the best ways to improve your cardio for MMA, and for anything else in life – is through running. That’s right nothing else will provide quite the same stimulation for your heart like running for a long period of time. If you really wish to take things up a notch when it comes to cardio – make sure that you will rack up many hours of running every week. But even a short 30-minute run has the potential to skyrocket your cardio.
Next off, if you’re preparing for an MMA fight, but you’re afraid that your cardio won’t be up to par – we recommend that you crank things up in the gym. If you need to have a three-round five-minute match in MMA, then make sure that you have 10 round matches in the gym. Of course, nothing is quite like genuine competition, especially when it comes to fighting – there is also the issue of your nervousness eating through your cardio, but if you can give it your all in the gym, this will make your life a lot easier on fight day.
And finally – there is one seemingly unrelated factor when it comes to cardio for MMA. And it’s the factor of your diet – a very important factor at that. If you can fix your diet so that you eat only natural foods, and evade eating processed junk – then this too will bring the effect of your cardiovascular endurance shooting through the roof.
Follow these advices and you will experience notable improvement when it comes to your cardio for MMA.
Fightlab has a extensive range of MMA and Muay Thai equipment through our fight stores in Phuket Thailand and also online at www.fightlab.com or www.fightlab.co.uk